Have you had enough of the person you are, and the life you are living? Thinking about a complete self-transformation? You can make your life your new project. Find out how to reinvent yourself by asking yourself some questions and following our guide to create the New You.
You Have Plenty of Time to Reinvent Yourself
Firstly, dismiss the notion that you are running out of time. It does seem that each year is passing faster than ever, but there are still 24 hours in a day.
Having said that, don’t procrastinate. For example: if you don’t begin today, you’ll still be in the same place in 12 months. Work on a five-year plan; reinventing oneself is not usually an overnight process.
Project Yourself Into the Future
What is it you want to transform? Is it:
- Your spiritual self
- Your career
- Your appearance/body
- Your lifestyle
- Your social life
- Your environment
- Something else?
Describe a day in the life of future you. Five years hence. Who are you? Who do you want to be? What career do you want? What do you look like? Who are your friends? Where do you live? Timetable your typical day – the way you’d like it to be in five years time.
Also write down possible regrets. What if you don’t change? What haven’t you done in those five years? Why haven’t you moved forward? What held you back? Don't skip this part, it's important in the reinvent yourself process. This is your motivation, the push you need to start today.
Look back to five years ago from the present. What big changes did you make from then till now? How have they affected your life? What was good? What was a mistake? What would you change? Maybe you haven't made any changes. Again, use this information to make a positive choice right now.
Make a Conscious Choice
Reinvention requires that you make a decision. A concrete choice that you can’t go back on. You can change it, but you can’t undo it. Once you begin on the path to New You you have to keep going. Make that decision.
Remember: You Take Yourself Wherever You Go
Do remember to take into account your personality, your abilities and your intelligence quota. You can improve your skills and knowledge; you can make changes to your behavior but you can’t change your innate nature. You are the person you are.
Evolve Your Plan
Don’t sit down and decide your New You plan in one evening. Let it percolate. Make notes, sit and think, use mind maps to explore the possibilities. Keep asking questions and answering them.
Take some personality tests such as the Myers-Briggs indicator. You might not be the person you think you are. Don’t just try one test, take several. You may find that your current life perfectly suits your personality and all you need to do is make a few minor tweaks to obtain a more fulfilling life experience.
Meanwhile Set Up New Habits
In order to make the changes you desire, you will need to take certain steps. Those actions will probably have to integrate into your current routine. You can discard some habits and activities which no longer serve you, but feeding the critters and looking after your kids still has to be done.
Get Up Earlier
Start by getting up 15 minutes earlier than usual. That’s all. You’ll feel as if you have a head start on the day. Make sure to use that extra 15 minutes at some point to work on your New You.
Prioritize Tasks
A to-do list, or a loose schedule won’t restrict you – quite the opposite, it frees you. You won’t need to spend precious thinking time on mundane, “what do I need to do next?” or “what’s for dinner?” Get yourself organized – not rigidly, but enough that you have some structure to the day.
Manage Your Environment
One of the ways to reinvent yourself is to take charge of your immediate environment. Make your home run efficiently so that it works with you, not against you. For example, Tanya wanted to give up a stressful job in order to start a bespoke dressmaking and garment alteration business. Instead of simply setting up in her spare bedroom, she completely reworked how certain rooms were used in the house. By doing this, she was able to provide a comfortable professional-looking environment for her clients and her business.
If your reinvention depends on changing your environment, begin making those changes now. It will help you to feel your way into the New You.
Find a Community
Even if you're an introvert, finding a like-minded community will help you along your path to reinvention and New You. Try to find a group – online or offline – full of people doing the things you want to be doing five years down the road. Lurk if you have to, but join in as soon as you can.
Mentors, Role Models and Companions
Mentors can be part of your life, or they can be authors or bloggers. Mentors are your inspiration and your guidance. Take what they say to heart and try it their way before you decide to do it your way.
Role models can be mentors too; they are people who have reached the destination you want to get to. You may not have direct contact with them, but you can hold them up as examples and motivation.
Companions are those who are on the same or similar path to you. They are roughly where you are. You’ll find them on forums and Facebook groups. They are your encouragement and supporters. They will share information and ideas. You can use them as sounding boards. You can also help them – teaching someone what you know helps you to learn and assimilate it faster.
Constantly Assess Your Progress
With your five year reinvention in mind, continually check to see how you are doing. If the changes you already made are having a positive effect, keep going. Refine and adjust as you go. If you abandoned those new habits, forgot your day-to-day plans and generally procrastinated about the New You, then you may as well give up. Or not. You can always start from right now.
Be Prepared to Change Direction
Even though you have the New You to work towards, things might change. Your positive outlook may attract new opportunities that you hadn’t considered, so don’t turn them down because they don’t appear to sync with your goals. Examine them to see if they will take you farther, even if it means taking a curved path instead of a straight one. What new skills will you gain from it? What experiences will be of value?
Conflicts and Sacrifices
With any self-reinvention, some things will have to go. Even some people. Identify the conflicts in your life that prevent you moving forward. Can you make compromises? Could someone else take on the responsibility? For example, you need to study for an important exam, perhaps your partner or teen could take on the preparation of the family dinner a few times a week?
Is It Worth It?
At each stage, when you assess your progress, ask yourself is it worth it? Would reaching your New You mean that your marriage is no longer important to you? Do your ambitions steamroller over your family’s wellbeing? Be very honest with yourself. Is this what you really want? If the answer is yes, you must keep going.
Happy New You
If the people you love are happy and proud of you, keep going. If you are making a positive difference in the world, keep going. If you are feeling great about everything you’ve achieved so far, keep going. There’s more work to be done.